The gashapon craze continues with Blog #182 which covers Yujin's Pro-Wrestling NOAH
figures.
First, a little history:
The year was 2000. All Japan Pro-Wrestling founder Giant Baba had passed away from
cancer one year prior; leaving Baba's widow Motoko Baba and top star Mitsuharu Misawa
in charge of running the promotion.
Evidently, it didn't take long for Misawa and Motoko Baba to begin having a conflict of interest
over how All Japan should be run. Mitsuharu Misawa simply wasn't thrilled with the direction
Motoko Baba was planning to take All Japan Pro-Wrestling in and decided to leave the promotion
entirely.
Along with Misawa, other All Japan Pro-Wrestling mainstays would send in their resignations
as well; forming the foundations for what would become a brand new promotion known as
Pro-Wrestling NOAH.
Japanese toymaker Yujin had already created three waves of gashapon figures for All Japan
Pro-Wrestling and were ready to jump ship as well. The resulting collaboration would
create:
"ファイティングボックスコレクションノア編 PART 1" ( which translates to Fighting
Box Collection Pro-Wrestling NOAH Volume PART 1), a six figure collection of NOAH's
biggest stars of the early 2000's.
From left to right: Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, Akira Taue, Takao
Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama.
Unlike Yujin's All Japan Pro-Wrestling capsule figures, the Pro-Wrestling NOAH
set came packaged in blind box fashion. A growing trend during the early 2000's
that would be adopted into Character Product's Mini Big Head figures starting
in 2004.
Each blind boxed figure came with a piece of a miniature Pro-Wrestling NOAH
ring. Collecting all six figures would assemble an entire ring playset.
As such, the price for each blind box was upgraded to 500 yen (about $4 USD).
This is one of the first examples of Kobashi in his early 2000's black trunks attire. Kobashi
is sculpted in a pre-Lariat pose.
Next to Kobashi is Mitsuharu Misawa. I always found Misawa's body sculpt to be a bit
perplexing. I guess Misawa is performing his patented Rolling Elbow. Though, I do
have to commend the silver foil paint accents on Misawa's boots and tights.
Following the trend of the last wave of All Japan figures made by Yujin, the Pro-Wrestling
NOAH set features minimal articulation. The figures in the set are more for display than
anything.
Next up is Jun Akiyama in his era-accurate upward point pose and silver/white ring attire.
Akira Taue is crafted in a pre-Chokeslam pose and contains the facial hair Taue was growing
at the time.
The last two figures are of the NO FEAR tag team Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama.
A tag team that started out in All Japan Pro-Wrestling before migrating to Pro-Wrestling
NOAH. Both figures are sculpted in their NO FEAR pointing taunt.
Closing thoughts:
Compared to Yujin's previous work with All Japan Pro-Wrestling, the quality and
craftsmanship of the NOAH figures are a major improvement overall.
Even with the limited posability, Yujin's NOAH figures capture the likeness of each
Wrestler with improved detail.
As to my knowledge, there was never a Part 2 to the Pro-Wrestling NOAH set.
No comments:
Post a Comment